That will begin to change this weekend when Wakamatsu and his coaches gather in Seattle for the first time.

They have been in regular communication since Zduriencik started putting together his front office after his November hiring. But they haven't been in the same room -- executives, manager and coaches -- until this week. At the same time, the Mariners scouting staff will be in town, and while the meetings will be separate, there will be crossover.

"I'm hoping to get a lot of input, face-to-face," Wakamatsu said. "It's one thing to talk on the phone. We've done that a lot. But there's something to be said for having lots of voices heard, lots of opinions out there.

"We're going to meet on the 17th and 18th. I've had discussion with (pitching coach) Rick Adair and Jack on the pitching. At this point, we don't know who will be throwing on the first day of spring. The way it shook out last year, we have a lot of questions."

The Mariners lost 101 games in 2008, so there are lots of questions to be answered. One is about the makeup of the pitching staff, particularly the placement of right-hander Brandon Morrow, the 2006 first-round draft pick who wants to start but was successful as a fill-in closer in 2008 (10 saves, 1.47 ERA).

Wakamatsu and Zduriencik have called Morrow to tell him the current plan has him in the starting rotation.

"We've been kicking this around for a while," Zduriencik said. "As of right now, we're still planning on having him start."

Assuming that happens, the Mariners still need a closer to replace J.J. Putz, who was traded to the Mets. They picked up Tyler Walker in free agency; he has three months' worth of closing experience, though that was back in 2005.

Mark Lowe, who spent 2008 proving he was healthy after arm surgery, wants the closer's job. Ousted starter Miguel Batista was a closer for a year in Toronto and could get the call. Aaron Heilman, picked up from the Mets in the Putz trade, has closed in the past but would prefer to start. And Roy Corcoran had three saves in the final five weeks last season and has some support for getting a shot.

Beyond that, the meeting this week will look at how the staff wants to see players once spring training starts. In addition to the pitching situation, left field, first base, catcher and DH are far from settled.

"We're going to go over our spring training goals," he said. "We need to settle on the number of innings for pitchers and the number of at-bats we want to see the hitters get."

From there, most of the staff will stick around for the following weekend's FanFest, the unofficial first pitch of the 2009 season.

NOTE: The Mariners don't appear to be close to making additions via trade or free agency. "I don't see a lot of movement," Zduriencik said. "We've talked with teams and we've talked with agents. You never know what might happen, but nothing is close."